16k international students affected as ACICS loses accrediting powers

The US Department of Education has withdrawn its recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, which it estimates will affect some 16,000 international students either studying on English language programmes or planning to remain in the US under the STEM Optional Practical Training programme.

ACICS accreditation is no longer recognised by the US Department of Education. Image: DHS.

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About Beckie SmithBeckie is a London-based journalist who reports on research policy and international education. She has a degree in Japanese from the University of Leeds and lived in Kyoto for a year. She is addicted to Spotify and can often be found debating feminism and politics or looking for London's best gin cocktails.

A Department of Education report said ACICS routinely failed to adequately police schools under its oversight

ACICS accredits some 250 institutions in the US. This includes around 130 ESL and higher education institutions that are certified by SEVP to recruit international students.

The agency was the accrediting body for the now-defunct Northwestern Polytechnic University in California, which was exposed as a visa mill last year.

“I find ACICS to be out of compliance with numerous agency criteria”

An investigation by Buzzfeed revealed that staff at the university had manipulated grades to ensure students didn’t fail courses and risk losing their visas – and that ACICS had maintained NPU’s accreditation despite having been informed by a whistleblower of the extent of these practices.

Announcing the final ruling last month, the Secretary of Education said the agency – which also accredited IIT College and many locations of Corinthian Colleges chain, which both filed for bankruptcy within the last two years – was “out of compliance with numerous agency criteria”.

“Because of the nature and scope of ACICS’s pervasive noncompliance, I further conclude that ACICS is not capable of coming into compliance within 12 months or less, even if I renewed its recognition for an additional 12 months,” Secretary John King Jr. said.

With the exception of ESL programmes, SEVP doesn’t require most schools to be accredited in order to receive its certification, international students applying for the recently extended 24-month STEM OPT extension must have a degree from an accredited institution.

This means that international students at ACICS-accredited higher education institutions must transfer to a SEVP-certified school that is accredited by another recognised body before they can apply for OPT.

Schools that want their students to be able to apply for the STEM OPT extension have been instructed to become re-accredited with an alternative body, along with ESL programmes, which must be accredited in order to remain SEVP certified.

The government has also instructed international students on ACICS-accredited ESL programmes that do not intend to gain alternative accreditation to transfer.

However, in reality, ESL students who are already enrolled will be allowed to complete their coursework, meaning most won’t be affected by the change.

ESL programmes that are accredited by ACICS alone won’t be able to issue new Form I-20s – the certificate of eligibility international students need to obtain a study visa – for English language programmes until they gain alternative accreditation. Most ESL schools are accredited by either CEA or ACCET.

“Our goal is to ensure ACICS retains its recognition and recover our role as a highly-regarded accrediting agency”

The revocation also means that domestic students at education institutions accredited only by ACICS – currently around 30,000 students – will be unable to claim federal aid after the 18-month grace period.

Shortly after Buzzfeed’s investigation last summer, the Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity voted 10-3 to revoke ACICS’s power to accredit schools.

The decision was informed by a departmental report that recommended withdrawing the agency’s accrediting powers, saying that it routinely failed to adequately police schools under its oversight.

In the intervening months, ACICS appealed the decision. In a statement on its website, the company said it had been “working diligently on an aggressive review, renewal and reinvention agenda aimed without reservation at a markedly strengthened accreditation process”.

However, the appeal failed and an application submitted by the agency for a temporary restraining order to halt the decision was also denied.

Roger Williams, interim president of ACICS, said in a statement the agency will press ahead with litigation to reverse the decision over the next year.

“While we are disappointed, [the] ruling does not relate to the merits of our claims, nor does it impact our litigation against the Department and our request for an injunction that would prevent implementation of the Department’s decision,” he said.

“Our goal is unchanged: to ensure ACICS retains its recognition and, furthermore, to renew and recover our historical role as a highly-regarded accrediting agency.”

A federal court will review the agency’s claims that the Department of Education’s decision was flawed and potentially unlawful in a Preliminary Injunction hearing on February 1.

It is good that the Education Department ensures that schools follow rules and regulations. Having said that, what about students who have passed with good grades above GPA 3.8 to 4.0? Obviously these students were doing well in their studies and were not being passed to keep them in visa status. Should all students be victims of situations they had no clue about at NPU and suffer discreditation of their degrees and STEM opportunities?

It is good that the Education Department ensures that schools follow rules and regulations. Having said that, what about students who have passed with good grades above GPA 3.8 to 4.0? Obviously these students were doing well in their studies and were not being passed to keep them in visa status. Should all students be victims of situations they had no clue about at NPU and suffer discreditation of their degrees and STEM opportunities?

I cannot fault the decision to revoke accreditation but it has a terrible effect on students who are currently enrolled. Their world is thrown into turmoil. In a just world, the school would refund their money for robbing them of their time and resources. I know that plenty of good people will be hurt. It’s a shame the school decided to take this path.

I know of students that have attended schools that were under ACICS accreditation. I certainly hope they are allow transitional opportunities complete their programs at other academic institutions. I wonder if the government will forgive their loans

I doubt the government will forgive the loans. I worry that it will be a buyer beware situation. In the end, each student is the guarantor of their own loans. I wish it were otherwise, as these students are getting a raw deal.

Like my classmate I can understand the decision regarding the accreditation but I do hate it for the students that it will effect or those who it has some future impact on as well. It will no doubt have some last effects on students going forward as well as the ACICS.

The questions arises on Department of US education! Why hundreds and thousands of students should suffer because of ACICS? Some universities did not maintain education standards and did shut down. Does it mean all the universities do the same? It was Department of US education who approved ACICS to be a national accreditor. When fault is at their end, why should students suffer? Did we pay huge sums to earn a degree that has no recognition? If every university gets automatic extension of 18 months to find a new accreditation. Why USCIS doesn’t consider these universities as accredited until 18 months?

International students Joined in college at the time it had accreditation and graduated at the time it had accreditation but now we are not eligible for OPT extensions and have to leave the country with their decision so sad ,No one is even discussing about International students and their time,money,dreams

if acics have done mistakes its the mistake of acics … but its not the mistake made by the students ..my question is why department of education havent done this before .ACICS was there for 100years ………….my question is why the department of education gives 100years for acics. so lets hope every student should not effected by this decision ..we hope for the best

It’s not fair to say so since NPU indeed has many alumni currently working in Silicon Valley.This school has already built up for 25 years. Yes, the Indian student (since 2013) attracted the spotlight and make the ACISC loses accrediting powers. But you can’t say all the alumni come from this visa mill. It’s not fair.

The miserable plight of these international students in the US, consequent upon the sudden termination of recognition of ACICS by USDOE.who are on OPT, but will be unable to renew it under STEM, as the sudden loss of recognition of ACICS, has a chain effect on him since his University is accredited to ACICS. The international students ,who sourced their funds for studying in the US from huge loans taken in the home countries, and travelled thousands of miles across the oceans to the US, are now left stranded in the street, helpless with no one to turn to, for no fault of their own and due to things over which they have no control, because of the decision on ACICS. My plea here is not with respect to ACICS, about which I barely know, but about the plight of the international students. While USDOE has given 18 months grace period to the schools under ACICS to find a new agency and the home students will continue to get federal aid during this period, the international students now on OPT, caught in the coross-fire between USDOE and ACICS, are not given this concession, as USCIS will accept OPT renewal applications only under the condition that the University must be accredited at the time of the application. The international students are thus suddenly robbed of the opportunity to hone and put their skills they have learned to test, besides facing the daunting prospect of clearing the debts taken by them for pursuing the education in the US.
Assistance should be given to these international students to tide over the present situation . Or perhaps USDOE can extend the grace period of 18 months to the schools’ accreditation also, so that the students, who for no fault of their own are in this miserable situation, can sort out their matters. This will alleviate to a large extent their suffering, which otherwise they will have to undergo, if the present scenario of sudden loss of accreditation of ACICS continues on their future.

International students Participating in universities at the time were recognized and graduated at the time of certification but now we are not eligible to extend OPT and must leave the country with their decision. so sad.

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